Handrail mounting means



March 18, 1969 E. J. KUSEL ETAL 3,433,460

HANDRAIL MOUNTING MEANS Filed Dec. 5, 1966 INVENTORS W RD SE 4 Y 5232 a.

B www A T TORNEYS United States Patent O 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THEDISCLOSURE A mounting bracket for securing a U-shaped handrail to asupporting wall. One end of the mounting bracket is secured to the walland the other end is disposed between the legs of the handrail. A pairof arcuate mounting elements are seated on flanges on the inside of therail beneath the end of the brackets and extend from one leg to theother. A set screw is then inserted through the mounting elements withone end bearing against the end of the bracket and then tightened todeform the mounting elements and lock the handrail to the mountingbracket. End closures are secured similarly for aesthetic purposes.

RELATED APPLICATIONS A somewhat similar mounting arrangement forconnecting a railing to a newel post is disclosed in applicantscopending application, Ser. No. 500,466 filed Oct. 11, 1965, now PatentNo. 3,343,811, as a continuation-in-part of Ser. No. 438,588 filed Mar.10, 1965, now abandoned, with the present application differing in thedisclosure of a different mounting element for locating a rail withrespect to a wall surface rather than a floor surface as is the case inthe copending application.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention This inventionrelates to the art of handrails adapted to be associated with stairwaysand in particular relates to an improved mounting means for quickly andeasily installing the rail on a wall.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART Handrails which are mounted on wallsadjacent stairs are of course old and well known in the art. In the pasthowever mounting has been of a more or less permanent nature andinvolved mounting brackets which were usually either integral with therailing member or permanently attached thereto as by welding. With suchstructures it is generally necessary to have the railing member and thebracket constructed of a predetermined length to correspond with the runof the stairs.

Also the known prior art devices lack the desired aesthetic aspects dueto the manner of securing the mounting member to the rail itself sincethe point of juncture is visible and detracts from the over-allappearance of the assembly.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It has been found that an improved railassembly can be obtained by providing a basically U-shaped cap or railelement having a contoured outer surface and also 3,433,450 PatentedMar. 18, 1969 ice providing a mounting bracket one end of which can bemounted or secured to the supporting wall while the other end is quicklyand releasably attached to the cap member out of sight between the legsthereof.

The means of attachment of the mounting bracket to the cap memberinvolves the utilization of an expansion member which is adapted to fitbetween the legs of the cap and then be expanded into place so as tosecurely attach the mounting bracket to the cap member.

It has also been found that by utilization of such structure any numberof mounting members may be used since the same can be placed at anypoint along the length of the cap. In this fashion the railing can besold in any desired lengths and can be cut off as required to fit anyset of stairs.

It has further been found that the aesthetic properties of the railingassembly can be improved by utilizing an end cap member which has anexterior contour that corresponds to the exterior contour of the railingand further is secured thereto by an expansion member that fits betweenthe legs of the rail and then is expanded so as to securely lock the endpiece to the railing.

Accordingly, production of an improved handrail of the type describedbecomes the principal object of this invention with other objectsthereof becoming apparent upon a reading of the following briefspecification considered and interpreted in view of the accompanyingdrawlIlgS.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING Of the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of the improved handrail showing the samemounted adjacent a stairway and being broken in the middle to indicateindeterminate length.

FIGURE 2 is a sectional view taken along the lines 2-2 of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 3 is a sectional View taken along the lines 33 of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 4 is a sectional view taken along the lines 4-4 of FIGURE 2.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Considering first FIGURE 1 itwill be seen that the over-all railing assembly 10 includes a rail orcap member 20, mounting brackets 30, which secure the rail to the wallsurface W adjacent steps S and end pieces 50, 50 which close off theopen ends of the rail 20 to give the product a finished appearance.

Turning first then to a detailed discussion of the rail 20 andparticularly to FIGURES 1, 3 and 4 it will be seen that the rail isessentially U-shaped in cross section with a contoured outer surface.The top portion 21 of the rail connects depending leg members 22, 23which terminate in return flanges 22a and 2311 (see FIGURE 3). Theseflanges 22a and 23a provide a shelf or surface upon which expansionmeans rests as will be described more fully below.

Referring next then to FIGURE 2 it will be seen that the mountingbracket 30 consists of a mounting plate 31 which is shown having acircular planar configuration but which, of course, could have anyconfiguration desired. This plate 31 has a central aperture 31a and isadapted to have one side placed against the supporting wall surface andthen be secured thereto by any suitable securing means such as the bolt70.

Mounting bracket 30 also has a roughly L-shaped connecting member 32which projects from plate 31 at substantially a right angle and then isbent at right angles so as to be parallel to the plate 31. The member 32then terminates in a cross bar 33 which projects transversely to thelongitudinal axis of member 32, and has its longitudinal axis parallelto wall W and which is also of a size suflicient to permit it to bereceived between the legs 22, 23 of cap with the top or base portion 21of the cap resting on cross bar 33. In this way when cap 20 is laid oncross bar 33 it will be in parallel relationship to wall W.

Expansion means 40 are also provided with, in the normal instance, twosuch members being utilized in conjunction with each mounting bracket30. The expansion member 40 is generally arcuate in cross section and isadapted to be received between the legs 22, 23 of cap 20 (see FIGURES 3and 4) and rests on flanges 22a, 23a. A set screw 41 is associated witheach expansion member 40 and the expansion member has a through threadedbore for reception of the set screw 41. In this fashion when the setscrew is threaded through the opening so that one end thereof bearsagainst cross bar 33 further threading of the screw will deform or bendexpansion member 40 from the full line position to the chain-dotted lineposition shown in FIGURE 4. This action also serves to force cross bar33 against the inner surface of top piece 21 of the rail 20 and in thisfashion the mounting bracket is securely attached to the rail 20.

Turning next then to the end piece 50 it will be noted that this piececonsists primarily of a solid head 51 which has an external contour thatsubstantially conforms to the contour of the cap 20. Projecting fromhead 51 is a connecting arm 52 so that the planar configuration of theend piece is generally T-shaped. This leg 52 is also of sufiicient sizeto be received between the legs 22 and 23 of the cap 20. Also associatedwith the end piece 50 is an expansion member 60 which is identical withexpansion members 40, above referred to and also rests on flanges 22a,23a of rail 20. Similarly, the set screw 61 is threaded through theexpansion member and then tightened thereby deforming member 60 andlocking the end piece to the railing.

In use or operation of the improved handrail the rail or cap 20 is firstcut to the desired length. A suitable number of mounting brackets 30, 30are then secured to the wall surface and the cap is placed on the crossbars 33 of the mounting brackets. Expansion members 40, 40 are theninserted between the legs of the cap cover 20 and tightened into placeby screws 41, 41 thereby securely attaching the cover 20 to the mountingbrackets.

End pieces 50, are then secured to the ends of the cover 20 and lockedinto place by utilizing screw 61 and expansion means 60.

Once the handrail has been assembled it will be seen that a rigid,dependable railing structure will be provided. Furthermore, due to theparticular means for securing the handrail to the mounting bracketsimproved aesthetic properties are present since there are no visibleattachment means to detract from the over-all appearance of the assemblywith all connections being hidden from view between legs 22 and 23 ofrail 20.

It will also be seen how installation is facilitated since once mountingbrackets 30, 30 have been secured to wall W the rail 20 can be placedthereon and slid back and forth until properly positioned and the lockedin place.

While a full and completely description of the invention has been madein accordance with the dictates of the Patent Statutes, it should beunderstood that modifications thereof can be resorted to withoutdeparting from the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A mounting device for use in mounting a handrail of generallyU-shaped cross section on a supporting surface comprising:

(A) a mounting plate adapted to be secured to said supporting surface;

(B) a connecting leg (1) having one end connected to said mounting plate(2) with its opposed end projecting from said mounting plate andterminating in an elongate cross bar that is adapted to be receivedbetween the legs of said rail;

(C) a pair of expansion members (1) adapted to be received between thelegs of said rail below said cross bar; and

(D) expansion means adapted to bear against said cross bar and expandsaid expansion members against said legs (1) whereby said cross bar isheld in place with respect to said rail and said mounting device issecured to said rail.

2. An end piece assembly for use with a handrail of generally U-shapedcross section comprising:

(A) an end piece having (1) a base member with substantially the sameouter configuration as said rail (2) and a projecting leg member adaptedto be received between the legs of said rail;

(B) an expansion member (1) adapted to be received between the legs ofsaid rail below said leg member; and

(C) expansion means adapted to bear against said leg and expand saidexpansion member against the legs of said rail (1) whereby said endpiece is secured to said ra 3. A handrail assembly for mounting on asupport surface of the character described, comprising:

(A) an elongate rail of generally U-shaped cross section; (B) mountingmeans (1) having one end adapted to be releasably secured to saidsupport surface and (.2) with its opposed end projecting normally tosaid support surface and being adapted to be releasably secured betweenthe legs of said rail (a) whereby said rail may be disposed insubstantial parallelism to said support surface; (C) a mounting plateadapted to be secured to said support surface; (D) a connecting leg (1)having one end connected to said mounting plate (2) with its opposed endprojecting substantially normally from said mounting plate andterminating in an elongate cross bar that has its longitudinal axisdisposed in substantial parallelism to said mounting plate and that isadapted to be received between the legs of said rail; E) a pair ofexpansion members (1) adapted to be received between the legs of saidrail below said cross bar; and (F) expansion means adapted to bearagainst said cross bar and expand said expansion members against-saidlegs (1) whereby said cross bar is held in place with respect to saidrail and said mounting device is secured to said rail. 4. The device ofclaim 3 further characterized by the presence of:

(A) a removable end piece assembly having an exterior configurationsubstantially corresponding to the exterior configuration of said rail;

(B) means for releasably securing said end piece be- References Citedtween the legs of said rail; (C) said end piece assembly includingUNITED STATES PATENTS (1) an end piece having 2,820,613 1/ 195-8Schilling 256-21 (a) a base member with substantially the 5 2,873,0952/1959 Blum 256 65 same outer configuration as said rail, 3,018,0771/1962 Buehlel: 248-251 X (b) and a projecting leg member adapted to3,057,991 10/1962 Grenadler 2402 be received between the legs of saidrail, FOREIGN PATENTS (2) an expansion member (a) adapted to be receivedbetween the legs 192601 10/1957 Ausma' of said rail below said member,and 10 ROY D F'RAZIER Primary Examiner (3) expansion means adapted tobear against said leg and expand said expansion member against FRANKDOMOTOR, Assistant Examiner. the legs of said rail (a) whereby said endpiece is secured to said 15 rail. 248 25 1

